


Goalie Chants

by PoetsReach



Series: Emergency Goalie [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, Hate Crime, I don't think it quailfies for a warning of graphic violence, News Media, Trans Character, Violence, but please speak up if you disagree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 23:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoetsReach/pseuds/PoetsReach
Summary: The goalie chants started up almost as soon as Roth left the tunnel. Freddy could hear them from where he was still inside. Everyone heard them. It was clear that while a loss always sucked, tonight it would be unacceptable. They weren’t going to have Roth listening to that shit the entire game and leave him hanging out to dry on top of it.





	1. The Game

**Author's Note:**

> This is a scene to the first year Roth played in the NHL.
> 
> I am sorry! I tried to write it without naming a bad guy, but I got to the second part and I realized if I didn't name someone it would be really awkward and contrived. I Do Not Think All Black Hawk Fans Are Shitty, (I can't pretend to like the franchise, because of he whom I shall not name.) But I had to pick so I picked randomly and Chicago happened to be playing the day I picked a team.

Something was nagging at the back of Anderson’s mind, he just couldn’t think of what it could be. He was going through his usual road game routine. Everyone else was getting ready, working through their routines getting focused or hyped up depending. All of the usual faces. They had brought Roth along as the backup on this trip, he was starting tonight. 

Where was Roth? 

No one on the team could really say they knew the guy well yet, hadn't known him long enough for that, but usually he would be sitting in his stall right next to him and singing along to whatever was being played, or at least humming. Whether it could really be called singing was debatable.

His pads were gone, so wherever he was he was kitted out and ready to go on, that was good at least, if he wasn’t they would be cutting it close at this point. Best not to draw attention to it yet. Maybe he had just stepped out for a moment. 

Avi felt his heart sinking as the PR person and one of the assistant coaches kept talking to him. For the first couple of games it was speculated ahead of time he would play he had been on edge. He knew there were people who didn’t think he should have been allowed to play. There were sometimes a couple of nasty signs against the glass, but nothing he couldn’t deal with. Nothing he couldn’t ignore. That wasn’t what they were talking about though. 

Freddy shifted to face Roth as he settled back into his stall next to him. “What’s wrong?” This was probably the first time he had seen him shaken up, he hadn’t even seemed shaken by his first loss, more determined than anything else. Whatever this was, it was probably big. He watched as Roth glanced around. Shifting.

“They just pulled me aside, PR and the coach. Apparently there has been some sort of social media campaign and they are expecting the crowd to get nasty. About me. Apparently there have even been a couple of threats. Anonymous of course.”

By how Roth was holding himself, stiff, Freddy could tell that there was more, so he waited.

It was maybe ten seconds before he continued. “They wanted to know if I wanted to sit this one out.”

That seemed like a rookie mistake to Freddy. A really bad idea. “You said no right, because you know if you let them push you back they will never let up.”

Roth sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. “Of course I said no. Give them an inch they will take a mile every time. Apparently everyone here that should be is aware of the threats and they are pretty confident that nothing is going to happen.”

Roth still seemed on edge so Freddy leaned over so he could get in his face. “We’ve got your back, you know that right? Every man in this room is behind you. As far as the crowd goes, fuck em.”

Roth finally cracked a smile, so Freddy counted it as a win. Then he smirked. “Frankly I would rather they focus on being in front of me. Play the game; let me decide to worry about this shit if I want to. And until shit happens I would rather forget about it… Don’t get me wrong though, I appreciate the support, I really do. It means a lot.”

Both goalies sat up and turned to face forward when the heard a familiar throat being cleared. Babcock looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. Before speaking he shifted on his feet and cleared his throat again. “Roth, you good to go tonight?”

“Absolutely coach.” Freddy was glad he sounded more steady than he had before. Like he was determined to make this game a big ‘fuck you’ to everyone who doubted his place in the NHL. Good, there was always an extra spark in his play when he was belligerent. That was something that had come through loud and clear so far.

Babcock nodded. “Good. They are doing what they can to make sure you just have to worry about the puck tonight. Keep your head in the game.” 

———————————-

The goalie chants started up almost as soon as Roth left the tunnel. Freddy could hear them from where he was still inside. Everyone heard them. It was clear that while a loss always sucked, tonight it would be unacceptable. They weren’t going to have Roth listening to that shit the entire game and leave him hanging out to dry on top of it.

By the middle of the second it was clear that it was going to be a goalie duel. Both Roth and the opposing goalie were clearly on their game tonight. The game was tied at 1 after Matthews deflected a shot above the opposing goalie's glove and Roth got scored on from his position being crushed by one of his own teammates. It was probably going to hinge on who got more shots off. Offence just had to keep pushing. Quantity over quality, eventually something had to go in no matter how good the goalie, it was just math.

As the game had gone on the chanting had gotten nastier, but there came a point where most of the crowd seemed to start getting uncomfortable. The volume was dropping. With about five minutes left in the third Naz drew a tripping call and the Leafs had the man advantage.

They converted. The leafs had their first lead of the game. Off of the ensuing face off the defense broke down and Roth was facing a breakaway. Something flashed in the corner of Freddy’s eye and things slowed down like they sometimes did when he was in a zone on the ice. He watched as a brown bottle flew through the air. He watched as Roth remained focused on the play. As the bottle caught the side of Roth’s head. As it bounced off and broke on the ice.

Roth dropped.

The whistle blew.

All hell broke loose.

By the time everyone had converged on the fallen goalie Roth was already making his way to his feet, quick to assure the trainers that he was fine and had only been surprised by the hit. They still pulled him back to go through concussion protocol. They also needed to make sure there was no glass in his equipment. And to take care of the small cuts on his cheek from the flying shards.

When security had dragged out the furious, bottle hurling, fan and the ice in and around the crease had been cleared of glass, they were ready to let Roth back out on the ice and the rest of the team was ready to draw blood.

Avi was fine. He understood why they made him go through protocol, he had dropped to the ice and they needed to be sure, but he was fine. More than fine, he was livid and he needed to finish this game more than any other game he had ever played. 

That ass hole could not be allowed to win.

As he made his way back out of the tunnel and back onto the ice the entire arena went quiet for a moment, then it erupted. People, the same people who had been mocking and harassing him all night, were cheering for him. He couldn’t help feeling a little vindictive about that.

He got hugs and head pats from the teammates he passed on his way back to the net. Freddy held onto him for a moment longer and spoke into his ear over the crowd. “Coach has been stalling them until you could come back. Everyone wants you to finish this.” Avi got a little choked up at that, so he nodded and moved onto the ice.

The crowd didn’t quiet until he was settled back in his crease.

There was no more scoring in the game, no matter how much either team wanted it. The last three minutes went by and the game was over.

Before Avi could start striping out of his gear he got called back out as the first star. He knew it was a public relations stunt. It was a way for them to try and salvage the home crowd, give them another chance to cheer for him after spending most of the evening treating him as something less than human, until they were reminded what they were supporting and how far some people were willing to take it. He didn’t love saluting the crowd that treated him like shit just because they could, and not because of the colors he wore, but because of who he was. He did it though, and made it back down to the locker room as quickly as possible. 

Freddy could tell that Roth was flagging. Predictably most of the media wanted to talk about what had happened, especially after they found out that Roth had been warned that something might be going down that night. At least no one actually in the room had suggested that it was Roth’s fault for playing, not yet any way. He knew it was probably just a matter of time before some talking head brought it up. He waved over someone from the team's media staff and made hopefully meaningful gestures toward Roth. It seemed to work, they came over and broke up the scrum.

“You doing okay? They can be a bit much, even when we win.” He kept his voice down, just in case anyone was still listening.

Avi sighed and leaned his head back against his stall, staring at the ceiling. “Just tired. And my face hurts. Broken glass is not fun. We tried to shake it all out of my equipment, but I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna be picking it out for a long time.” He blinked up at the ceiling a couple of times before rolling his head so he could see Freddy. “Sometimes I really hate people.”

Freddie had to laugh at that, “Roth that is something that I totally understand.”


	2. LFR: TOR 2 - CHI 1

\--Video intro concludes--

Steve is sitting in front of the camera staring straight ahead; he sighs, covers his face with his hands and sighs again. He looks back up at the camera. 

“I don't even know what to say about this game. If you haven't heard about what happened by the time I post this video you must be living under a rock. There are a lot of things to think about what happened, but if you think any of this was Roth’s fault in Any Way I don't know what to say to you! You are out of your goddamned mind!”

—Jump cut to Hat Guy—

“I know! Twitter’s gross man!”

—Jump back to Steve—

“I know right!”

“In all seriousness though. Tonight there was a game against the Chicago Blackhawks that the Leafs won 2 to 1. And believe me, we will talk about that. But first there is something more important to talk about.” He pauses and steeples his hands on in front of his face, frowning. “Let’s talk about the fans for a moment. I don't usually talk about how the fans act in these videos, sometimes but not much. Every fan base has their bad apples, the Leafs included. But last night they took over the whole damn stadium. There was a social media campaign. The chants were so bad that they were bleeping them out on the broadcast, I had to go to Twitter to find out exactly what they were saying half the time!” He shook his head and leaned farther into the camera. “And then there was the guy that through a GLASS BOTTLE AT ROTH’S HEAD! HOLY SHIT!” 

—Jump to Hat Guy —

“Was he drunk? He had to be drunk right?”

—Jumping back to Steve—

“Ah yes. Interesting fact. No he was not. He was sober. He knew exactly what he was doing. No excuses.” He breathed for a moment, until the red was leaving his face. “He is being charged with assault, so there is some justice in this world.”

“And then the reaction when Roth got back on the ice.” Loud, slow clapping. “Congratulations Chicago. You got your collective heads out of your collective asses. It took an actual case of ASSAULT, but you finally managed it.”

A deep sigh. 

“Look. I know that some people don't think he should be playing. I get that. I don't agree with it, but I get it. But you don't treat people like that. Like how he was treated. I don't care how much you want to throw him off his game so your team can win. You just don't. You don't. Hockey is supposed to be for everyone. This is not how we do that.”

“NOW. If I were you, Blackhawk fans. I would be ashamed. I would be ashamed of how the people in that arena were acting. And I know it wasn't all of them. And I would be ashamed of the lack of action until actual physical violence occurred. Your team played fine. Your goalie was excellent. It just wasn't your night.”

“Some people were complaining that they delayed the game until Roth got back to the ice. DAMN RIGHT THEY DID! You can’t let people like that win! Dumbass threw that bottle to take Roth out of the game! If he was healthy and wanted to finish it Roth should have been able to come back and finish it! He was back there for fifteen minutes, it took them ten to get all the broken glass off the ice, they only stalled for five. I’ve watched video reviews that felt longer. If they’d been in the middle of the game I might have said ‘let Freddy play a couple minutes, send Roth back in at the first whistle.’ But there were less than five to go in the game. Let Roth finish it. I think he is owed at least that by this league, by us as fans after One Of Us threw a Bottle At His Head.”

“Any way! Moving on to the actual game. For the most part the Leafs defense was actually pretty good in this one. Aside from one spectacularly bad play that lead to the Chicago goal and Roth at the bottom of a pile of his own teammates. That Matthews goal on the redirect was sick though, and that was assisted by the same guys who sat on Roth, so they redeemed themselves. A little bit, at least. Now as for offense...


End file.
